According to the Vancouver Island earthquake Watch, the seismic event occurred at 9:19 p.m. and had an epicentre 190 kilometres southwest of Port Hardy on Vancouver Island. The depth of the tremor was a shallow 10 kilometres.

Earthquakes with a magnitude between 2.5 and 5.4 are often felt, but only causes minor damage. The estimated number of earthquakes that size each year are 30,000.